Posted on 04/07/2008 1:14:19 PM PDT by kingattax
PARIS — Elite French troops were headed to East Africa to bolster efforts to free captives of a yacht held by pirates off Somalia, a French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said today.
A team of the GIGN, a commando force that conducts anti-terrorist and hostage rescue operations, was being sent to Djibouti to "reinforce" negotiation teams in place, spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said in an online briefing.
Pirates seized the yacht, called Le Ponant, in the Gulf of Aden on Friday. It was carrying 30 crew members, including 22 French citizens, but no passengers.
French officials made contact with the pirates overnight.
"We had confirmation that the crew was safe and sound and well-treated," Andreani said.
"Our priority is the safety of the hostages," she said.
French military spokesman Cmdr. Christophe Prazuck said the situation aboard the yacht remained "calm" today.
A French frigate was diverted from its NATO duties and has been tracking the yacht, military officials said over the weekend. An airplane dispatched from a French base in Djibouti has flown over the yacht.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned it could take "an enormous amount of time" to settle the pirate standoff, which he called "a very serious affair."
President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to meet with the families of the French crew members Tuesday.
The governor of the Somali region of Bari, where the yacht is being held, was quoted in today's Le Figaro as urging an attack on the pirates by French and U.S. warships. Musa Ghelle Yusuf urged an attack "for the peace of Somali waters."
Typical French, won’t go to Iraq but will go and (attempt) to rescue a yacht.
what exactly are “elite” French Troops anyway?
French Foreign Legion, of course!!
They do have a few. Not all of them are surrender monkeys.
We call them the Boy Scouts!
.."don't you try to be funny with me, monsieur"
The GIGN. You're welcome to piss them off if you'd like, but I wouldn't rec it. They're some of the most experienced, best trained anti-terrorist special forces in the world.
minor nitpick, the GIGN are police, not military.
They didn't go to Iraq, but they have gone to Afghanistan. In fact, they just dramatically increased their deployment to Afghanistan.
Elite French troops were headed to East Africa to bolster efforts to free captives of a yacht held by pirates off Somalia.
Currently marching backwards they are expected to arrive in an undetermined time frame.
The National Gendarmes Intervention Group, commonly abbreviated GIGN (French: Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), is the French Gendarmerie's elite counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit. It is composed of 120 men, including 11 officers.
Its missions include the arrest of gunmen, in particular those taking hostages, counter-terrorism, including airplane hijacking, or prevention of mutiny in prisons.
Telling your enemies that you are sending troops is a mistake.
That's nice. I take it you're rooting against America's French allies and are instead rooting for the Islamist terrorists. FYI, the GIGN have been responsible for innumerable successful anti-terrorist operations.
In 1994, for instance, they successfully stormed a hijacked Air France flight after determining that terrorists on board intended to fly the plane into the Eiffel Tower. They liberated the passengers and killed every terrorist on board, without a single collateral death. There is no better trained or more experienced hostage rescue unit in the world.
Why? They're sending troops to the region, not giving away operational details.
The goal is to avoid using the GIGN, using the threat of an attack to convince the terrorists to let their hostages go without bloodshed.
The GIGN doesn't have a great record of taking low value targets prisoner. If I were the terrorists I'd think I'd bitten off a bit more than I can chew.
At this point, if I were the gunmen, I’d make plans for my imminent demise. GIGN doesn’t take prisoners a whole lot when engaged in CT. Few do, but the SAS and GIGN are particularly rough customers.
Since Sarkozy Ive ended my boycott and stopped making anti French jokes. I wish their “elite troops” good hunting and the safe return of French citizens.
Yep. If they're greenlighted, the bad guys will die.
What interests me more is why GIGN and not Commando Hulbert? I thought Commando Hulbert trained more often for maratime CT? Or has GIGN been training for that?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.